


you're all that i want (when you're lying here in my arms)

by denish



Series: heaven universe [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Confessions, Cuties, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, also this goes with an elmaxish fic i'll be posting, byler just confessing to eachother, eleven lucas dustin and jonathan are only mentioned so, they really said IM BABY this entire one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 23:57:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18304127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denish/pseuds/denish
Summary: Will Byers has a project due for art class next week and he stays up at 2 am drawing it just because he can when Mike Wheeler climbs through his window. At 2 am.





	you're all that i want (when you're lying here in my arms)

     Will sat on his bed with quite the focused agenda. He’d been working on a drawing for art class all night and while it was already 2 am and the project wasn’t due for another week, he felt so completely inspired that he just had to finish it. 

     ‘So completely inspired’ in his mind was translated to the feeling of just knowing how big and infinite the universe really was and knowing how very small and insignificant you really are. It gives you a power unlike any other, makes you feel as if you can do anything, urging you to make yourself useful. And that’s just what Will Byers was doing. Making himself useful.

     The Clash played lowly on an old boombox Jonathan gave him as Will drew the thing he loved most.

     It’s funny the way teenagers think. A teacher tells them to draw the thing they love most and they draw their boyfriends and girlfriends and they draw their possessions and their cars. And Will was no different, he was different in many other categories, yes, but drawing anything but his family when he’s told to draw the thing he loves most, he was not. And he would’ve drawn his family, he really would have, but he realized that he had to find a way to come out and drawing a picture of his crush as the thing he loved most seemed almost too convenient. He just hoped no one would recognize the boy if he just-so-happened to draw a galaxy over his eyes and change the shape of this lips and the style of his hair.

 

_      Tap, Tap, Tap _

 

     Will jumped a smidge at the noise coming from his closed-curtain window. _Probably just a tree branch_ , he guessed or rather hoped.

 

_      Tap, Tap, Tap _

 

     But there is no tree outside of his window, Will soon realized.

 

_      Tap, Tap, Tap _

 

     The boy set down his sketchpad and pencil and he walked over to the window, trying his best to lookout without actually opening up the blinds. To no avail, he poked a finger between two plastic panels to see a pair of familiar dark brown eyes staring back at him. Quickly, Will tucked his sketch pad and pen underneath his pillow, desperate for it to be hidden well enough. And although he knew it probably wasn’t, Will still walked over to his window, pulling up the blinds and pulling back the curtains, anyway.

     After unlocking it, Will slid the window open and hastily removed the screen.

     “What are you doing here?” The boy asked as Mike Wheeler crawled through the window with little to no help.

     “Couldn’t sleep.” Was Mike’s simple answer. As if that really answered anything.

     “So you biked over to a house a mile from yours at 2 am so that you…” Will still couldn’t piece together the  _ why _ to his best friend’s decision.

     “Won’t be bored, yeah. Well, that and I like sneaking out the house and sneaking off to yours.” Mike said.

     “And sneaking off to mine? You’ve never done that before.” Will reminded him.

     “Uh yeah, I did. Back in fifth grade? Remember, code red?”

     “Shit, I forgot about that,” Will laughed. He’d called a code red when he was home alone and heard a crash in the kitchen and was too scared to investigate. Turned out, it was just a raccoon and Will had accidentally left the front door open without realizing.

     “Yeah, it’s harder to forget when you were laughing at a kid who was scared shitless of a raccoon.” Said Mike.

     “Raccoons are scary! They’ll attack you without a second thought!” Will defended and it was the truth, Mike had to admit, but as soon as Dustin, Lucas, and Mike all got to the house with bats, brooms, and large sticks, the raccoon ran and ran until it finally escaped out the way it came in.

     The two boys laughed at the shared memory for a bit, reminiscing over the days they’d do anything for each other. They still would, they really would, but not without hesitating first. Hesitating at whether a raccoon is really a code red situation.

 

     “Couldn’t sleep?” Will questioned after a good minute of silence.

     “Uh, yeah. It was more of a worrying-about-El thing.” Mike said, with concern clearly written in his expression. Will looked at the ground, wondering if Mike ever worried about him the way he worries about El. He wondered if Mike ever… felt about Will the way he felt about El.

     "Oh,” was all Will could say at that moment, but then, after about a minute of silence, ”El’s been okay. I think. I’m not really sure how this whole ‘connection’ thing works.” And it was the truth. They hadn’t tested it and never really wanted to, El was never too keen on being a lab rat.

     “I don’t know, she seem kind of… uh, spaced out to you?” Mike asked and Will thought about it. Not the ‘thought about it’ like you tell your friend you’ll do when they ask you over when really you just don’t want to hurt their feelings because their house reeks of cat piss, the kind of ‘thought about it’ that actually gives you answers, the thinking you do when you’re bored or taking a shower. And Will realized that El  _ had _ been kind of spaced out lately. She stopped including herself in things and sat in the back, alone, not doing anything at all but staring and observing and--

_      What if El realized I’m in love with her ex-boyfriend? _ Entered Will’s mind and suddenly he felt as if he’d throw up and explode all at once.

     “H-hey, Will?” Mike tried to get the boy’s attention and Will looked up from where he had been staring.

     “Yeah?”

     “You okay?” Mike asked and god did Will want to tell him. He wanted to tell him so many things that had been eating him up inside ever since he’d seen Mike and El together holding hands or kissing or just doing stuff couples do. He wanted to tell Mike how much he wanted to hold his hand and kiss his lips and how much he wanted to be his boyfriend. But he couldn’t. Could he? Who would it hurt? El. It would hurt El. What if she’s still in love with him as much as Will is? He can’t risk their entire relationship on some stupid boy he wants to spend the rest of his days with. He knows it sounds selfish, but he wished he had the guts to.

     “You know how Troy would always call me…” Will knew he couldn’t say too much, just enough for Mike to get that he likes boys. “Fairy and queer and stuff?”

     “Until his ugly-ass moved away? Yeah, why?”

     “Well, he wasn’t… exactly wrong.” Will could feel his heart pound against his ribs and his palms grow sweatier by the second. He could feel his face heat up and his body shake, just enough for him to notice, but not enough for Mike to.

     “So that means-”

     “I’m gay.” Will finished with a shaky breath. And as much as he wanted to look away from his best friend, he kept looking at his face, observing his expression, his features, and the emotions that leaked from his eyes.

     “You are?” Mike asked. It felt surreal. He didn’t sound surprised, but more relieved. Or maybe that was Will’s imagination.

     “Yeah,” a tear leaked from the shorter boy’s eyes as he admitted it once more, he still didn’t look away.

     “That’s…” Mike started, but his mind couldn’t find the right words to say. He tried again, “That’s…” Nothing. He looked down at Will, with no real intent until he actually looked into his eyes and then his lips. Because maybe his mouth couldn’t find a word in all of Mike’s vocabulary, but his mouth sure could find lips he’s wanted to kiss since his break up with El, a year ago.

     Slowly, but surely, Mike leaned in. And then they were kissing.

     And god, Mike tasted of kool-aid and chocolate chip cookies, sweet and sweeter. It was almost overwhelming. The good kind of overwhelming. The kind that makes you feel like you just want to drive off into the open air, music blaring and roof down, in one of those jeeps that only have five seats and a zip-up roof. Because that’s how Will felt, except he didn’t want to get away, he wanted to run towards something. Or rather pull something closer if you could get closer than kissing did.

     Mike, he felt as if he was breathing all of the feelings and hurt and stress into Will and letting it go. Because the only problem in his life that he still needed to solve was Will. He couldn’t sleep because of Will, he couldn’t concentrate in class because of Will, and he most certainly couldn’t feel what he felt about Will. Not because it was wrong, but because that’s what most people thought and that may as well be the same thing.

     The two separated after a few moments, Will could’ve sworn it’d been minutes and Mike could’ve sworn the same, but if someone had been keeping track of the time, they’d tell you it had only been one minute and 51 seconds.

     Mike laid back on Will’s bed, resting his head on Will’s pillow with a loud sigh as he heard a piece of paper crumble beneath him.

     Will watched as his best friend (if that’s even what he was anymore) looked bewildered and reached under the pillow in which the drawing of him was held. At that moment, Will could guarantee that he had never been as embarrassed as he was then.

     “That’s not-” What was Will supposed to say? ‘That’s not you’? Because anyone who was looking for it to be would know, on first glance, that it was.

     “This is really good,” Mike said, impressed.  _ Impressed _ . Mike, who was perfect in every single way, was  _ impressed _ by  _ Will _ .

     “Th-thanks.” Will blushed.

     “Is this me?” Mike asked.

     “Um, yeah.” Because why not? Why shouldn’t Will tell him now? Now that they’ve kissed?

     “I never thought I could look this, uh, good,” Mike admitted.

     “You always look good,” Will said as if it was a proven, scientific fact and Mike didn’t know it yet. Maybe that’s because in Will’s eyes that’s exactly what it was.

     Mike stared at Will a little longer than he would’ve before.

     “Thanks.” He smiled with not just mouth, but his eyes too. Will just smiled back.

     “So, uh, what’s the drawing for?” Mike really just wanted to change the subject. But he was also pretty curious as to why Will was drawing  _ him _ .

     “Um, an art project.”  _ An art project? But El takes art and the only assignment they have due is ‘draw the thing you love most’ and it’s due in a week. Oh. _

     “An art project?” Mike questioned and Will nodded, blushing a bit further than he had before. Mike couldn’t lie, it was cute when Will was red to his ears. “The same one El is doing?”

_      He knows _ , was Will’s first thought. Mike now knows he’s gay and he knows Will likes him, but Will wasn’t planning on telling him that he’s in love with him for about another year. And as anyone could tell, that plan has clearly gone to shit.

     “Well, uh, you see-” He was cut off.

     “Out of everything you own and have and want and need, you picked  _ me _ as the thing you love most?” Mike couldn’t believe it. His tone sounded more surprised, but really he was  _ so happy _ because he felt the same way.

     “I know it’s kind of cliche, but it’s kind of a coming out thing.” Will looked over at Mike to see that he seemed kind of… disappointed. “But it’s also sorta… true?”

     “A year.” Is all Mike said.

     “What?”

     “That’s how long I knew I’m in love with you. A year.” Mike finished, waiting for Will to say something, anything.

     A year. Will should’ve known, stolen glances, the overprotectiveness, even the fact that Mike broke up with El so suddenly. But on the other hand, this feeling is newer to Mike than it is to Will. Because Will’s been in love with Mike since second grade.

     “Fifth grade,” Will began, playing with the hem of his sweatshirt, “we went to the aquarium for a field trip and you were so… happy. I’ve never seen you as happy as you were,” Will smiled, remembering the memory so clearly, “and you stared at all the fish as they swam by like they were a new, colorful, beautiful species you’d never even thought of before and I just-” He furrowed his eyebrows, in thought, “I just stared at  _ you _ and I knew, I knew that there was no way I only liked you as a friend.”

     Mike breathed in the information. Fifth grade. He had no idea how Will did it.

     “Fifth grade?” Mike asked concern riddled within his words.

     “But I’ve been in love with you since probably second.” Will nodded.

     “Second  _ grade _ ?”

     “Yeah.”

     “I’m so sorry.” Mike felt  _ bad _ . Worse than just _bad_ , really. It was awful.

     “Why are you apologizing?” Will asked. “You don’t need to feel bad about this, Mike, it’s never been… horrible. I… I had this awful ache to tell you, but when I see you happy? All of that goes away. It heals me for a second, and then I realize that it’s worth not telling you if I get to keep seeing you smile like that for the rest of my life.”

     “Holy shit,” Mike let out a long sigh and laid his back on the bed, “I am so whipped.”

     “You really think you’re whipped after hearing me say everything that I have?” Will asked, laughing.

     “Yes,” Mike said in a duh tone, “you have no idea how much…” He just groaned.

     “What?” Will laid next to him, with his head turned toward Mike and Mike turned his head toward him. Eyes. Lips. Mike looked back and forth, repeating the two words into his head like some type of anatomy mantra. He did it until it eventually turned to ‘Eyes. Kiss.’ And he leaned forward, not sure what to do exactly, did he put his hand on Will’s cheek or just kiss him? He couldn’t remember what he did the first time. But then, his mind thought for him, it was almost like Mike’s default motion was to pull towards Will.

 

     They were in their own little universe and Will was the ground, Mike a plane falling out of the sky, and it was just gravity that he was pulled toward this boy, it was fate.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on twitter @/bigtimebiush !!


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